Dishwashers are a modern convenience in almost every home in the United States and many other countries for washing and cleaning dishes. Modern dishwashers typically have a number of convenience settings or features for scrubbing and cleaning dishes, including heavily soiled dishes, pots and pans, as well as cleaning more delicate dishes and cookware, such as fine china and crystal. Increasingly, as with other household appliances, there is a growing demand to make dishwashers faster and significantly more energy efficient in their operation. During the typical dishwashing cycle, the dishwashers will heat and pump water, generally mixed with a cleaning solution or soap, into a spray arm that applies the cleaning solution, as well as rinse water at the dishes under pressure, after which the dishes are subjected to a drying cycle in which heated air is applied to the dishes to dry and remove water therefrom.
Such water heating and drying cycles typically consume significant amounts of energy necessary to heat the water for washing and rinsing to a temperature sufficient to clean the dishes and to draw a sufficient volume of air through the wash tub of the dishwasher to sufficiently dry the dishes. Additionally, the drying cycle further often can take a significant amount of time to properly dry the dishes without spotting, which increased operation time requires more energy the longer it runs. Still further, the addition of drying chemicals generally is required to reduce spotting during drying. Accordingly, many companies are attempting to develop ways of cutting the washing and drying cycle times so as to reduce the amount of energy required during such operation, but at the same time, the dishwashers still must clean and dry dishes effectively. This includes being able to dry the dishes within the dishwasher as quickly and completely as possible, but without leaving water spots that can occur with direct air flows or flash drying of the dishes.
Accordingly, it can be seen that a need exists for a dishwasher design that addresses the foregoing and other related and unrelated problems in the art.